Stepping into the forest of my mind

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

I need to
show my hard-won epiphanies through self-reflection. I need to present my memoir in ways to allow
readers to enter upon the college journey.
I went to college as a mother of five, but that journey needs to be more
than just a collection of experiences at college and at home with my family as
I struggled to keep up with my studies, struggled to comprehend new subject
material, struggled to discover a new Victoria Marie.

I must explore the inner self, reflect
upon it, so that my reader can identify with me. This sounds like the inner dialogue, which I’m
incorporating into my memoir manuscript. But through inner dialogue, the memoirist needs
to discover something about herself, through reliving the experiences, the
struggles.

In the throes of my second
revision of the college memoir, I discover courage. It took courage to attend each class. Courage to believe in myself though surrounded
with doubts and inadequacy, embarrassment.
Courage to face my fear of failure.
Courage to face the fear of success, for in success comes
opportunity. Opportunity changes
lives.

I would never
be the same after my adventures through college. And neither would my family. It took a whole family to get this mother through
college.

I need to craft these discoveries
into well-stated epiphanies/themes and then be sure that they resonate
throughout the memoir. Through specific
details, the memoirist can achieve universality.

There’s my
timer again. My home smells of cinnamon
and honey. Time to take the Amish
friendship breads out of the oven. Time
to share the smells of Christmas with family, neighbors and friends. May your Christmas be filled with the
treasure of family and friends and may you all achieve success in 2015. Thanks for stopping by Adventures in Writing.